Sharry Miller

St. Francis Xavier and Love - Glass Experiments

I've been meaning to share with you a project I completed a couple of months ago. It was a commission for a woman who wanted to donate an icon of St. Francis Xavier to SFX Catholic Church in Valdez, Alaska in honor of her mother. She'd heard about my glasswork (but apparently had never seen it - I'm not sure how in this tiny town), and asked me to make a stained glass window. My... Read more →

Ego Bashing

It never ceases to amaze me the ways in which I can contrive to crush my own spirit. I'm sure I've written about this before, so forgive me if I'm being redundant. There's been a lot of press over the years about how we need to ensure our children's self-esteem is kept high, how the little things we say to other people inadvertently tear them down, how, essentially, we're all responsible for creating a kinder,... Read more →

January 2015 Sgraffito Challenge Day 7

Where is this year going already? This is day 7 of the Sgraffito Challenge which means it's January 7th. In my little pea-brain, I'm still supposed to be in Hawaii and the new year isn't supposed to have even started. Slow it down already! Today's assignment finally allowed us to use a tool, anything we chose or made, to manipulate our powder into a drawing. The only restriction was that it couldn't be a paintbrush.... Read more →

January 2015 Sgraffito Challenge Day 6

Yes, yes, I know. There was no Day 5. I admit it, I drank malbec and played on the computer instead. Today I probably should have done the same. Yesterday, as part of her description of Day 5's assignment, Kelly Crosser Alge defined "comparalysis." I'm going to be bad and steal the image right off her website: Isn't that just the truth? I'm suffering a bad case of comparalysis as I look at the photos... Read more →

January 2015 Sgraffito Challenge Days 1-4

Because I don't already have enough to do, and because I'm always looking for ways to improve my glass-working skills, and because it was there, I decided to participate in a 30-day challenge Kelly Crosser Alge is hosting called the 30-Day Sgraffito Challenge. Of course, I started out behind since we just got back from Hawaii, but I managed to get caught up yesterday and today. If you didn't already know, sgraffito is a technique... Read more →

Salmon as Public Art

I promised a few months ago that I'd write a post to share my first public art project - sorry for the wait. I was lucky enough to be chosen last February to create one of the public art installations for the new Gilson Middle School in Valdez. As wonderful as I may think I am, I suspect the main reason my project was chosen was because I proposed to work with the middle school... Read more →

Public Art Progress

If you remember, I posted early last month that I'd had a proposal accepted for one of five public art pieces to be installed in Valdez's new middle school. If you need to, take a moment to check out that post and refresh your memory. If you don't feel like reading it, here's a photo of the prototype to jog your synapses. Anyway, I've been meaning to post an update on the project for the... Read more →

Photorealistic Imagery in Glass

Serious overload. My brain is mush, and I'm only halfway through my workshops at the Glass Craft and Bead Expo in Las Vegas. I was here three years ago, and I remember having the same sense of impending meltdown. It's worth it, though. I spent the last two days in Gail Stouffer's class Making Your Mark. We learned several methods for getting photorealistic (or sort of, anyway) images in fused glass pieces using enamels. A... Read more →

Las Vegas for Rowan

Monday I headed to Las Vegas with my mom and mother-in-law for the Glass Craft and Bead Expo, four days of workshops and exhibits, mostly about art glass, but with a few other odds and ends thrown in, as well. Classes didn't start until today (Wednesday), so yesterday the moms and I headed off to explore the Strip. (We're staying at the South Point Hotel and Casino which is pretty far off the main drag.)... Read more →

Banner Day

Yesterday was a fabulous day. To begin with, I went for my first bike ride since I sprained my knees two weeks ago. I had to take it easy, but it was still a marvelous ride in the sunshine. I was bluntly reminded that it's not really quite spring yet, however, when I rode into the shadow of the mountain to the south of Port Valdez. Brrr! The photos below may be uninspiring, but hidden... Read more →